The original ESCO report from over two years ago identified an invisible community about which little was known and that was hardly recognised by government.
The report – ‘A Blueprint for Economic Growth’ – was based on extensive research into a number of areas. It pointed out the value of electronics to the UK’s economy; not just in numbers, but also in terms of its pervasiveness. It found that the sector was employing 850,000 people, making a £80bn contribution to the economy and accounted for 5.4 percent of GDP - an impressive and important sector, but an invisible one.
The latest figures paint an even brighter picture with growth rising in the two years to August 2014 and the sector is now worth almost £100bn with employment at over 1million.
On current projections, by 2020, the sector will account for over 7 percent of GDP and employ 1.7million people.
Over the two year period on which this data was based employment in the UK grew by 1.54million, so the electronic systems sector, which saw employment rise by 154,000, accounted for 10 percent of overall growth. At the same time wages rose by 2.5 percent pa – not bad at a time of austerity. Average incomes in the sector now stand at £42,000 compared to a national average of £27,000.
The number of small businesses has also jumped significantly, as have the number of bigger companies, those employing over 250 people. A surge in small business numbers suggests people with ideas, which they are intent on exploiting and who want to grow their businesses boosting the longer term prospects of the sector and the economy.
In total there are around 45,000 businesses in the sector as of August last year.
But can we trust these figures? Based on the FAME database, a register of all companies in the world, and the IDBR, and internal government database used to identify tax and revenue information from businesses operating in the UK, it looks like we can.
The sector is growing then; the number of start-ups surging and the sector’s value to the UK economy is set to jump significantly........but while the UK electronics systems community is healthy it still doesn’t appear to be valued by government or get the face-time with ministers it deserves.
